Finland’s national railway company announced on Friday that it was cancelling one of the last remaining train services between the EU and Russia.
The Allegro line operating between Helsinki and St Petersburg will be suspended indefinitely, Finnish railway operator VR said, according to Reuters.
VR was acting upon an order from the Finnish government, which told it that the service was no longer appropriate due to sanctions placed on Russia for the Ukraine war.
Russian Railways responded in a statement that they were informed of the decision.
Recent trains from St Petersburg to Helsinki have been jammed with Russians trying to leave the country as fast as possible with airspace closures making flights to Europe tricky.
The border between Russia and Finland is still open for private vehicle crossings.
Previously there was a Russian train known as the Leo Tolstoy that went from Moscow to Helsinki through St Petersburg. But it was cancelled because of COVID-19.
The Finnish Allegro train was one of the last train remaining train lines connecting Russia and the EU.
One of the main reason for continuing the Allegro train until now was to enable Finnish citizens to return home from Russia, Finnish minister of state holdings Tytti Tuppurainen told Reuters.